Searching for More
by TheCrackShipper
Summary: AU To hide from her glittering and demanding lifestyle Yamanaka Ino decides to take an undercover vacation. There she meets a boy with big dreams and an even bigger heart. Naruto/Ino
1. Prologue: Limelight

Searching for More

By TheCrackShipper

Prologue: Limelight

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"Miss Yamanaka, Over here!"

"Miss Yamanaka, if you could answer just a few questions!"

"Is it true that you're pregnant?"

Yamanaka Ino kept her eyes front and center, her overly large designer sunglass perched on her button nose. Her body guards kept the paparazzi in line, and she didn't give the leeches so much as a glance. Just a few more feet and she'd be home free. She had just returned from a fashion show, where they had been modeling her latest creations. Almost there…

"Miss Yamanaka, is it true that your manager dumped you for another woman?"

She could feel her heart harden a little more, her teeth clenched tightly. She wouldn't give them the satisfaction of a facial expression. Damn the paparazzi. Sometimes they got lucky.

It was still so painful, so hurtful. The last few months had been nothing but an introspective glance at all her faults and sadly enough they outweighed all of her talents. What good was it that you could model, design, and dance if you were a terrible person? Her dear manager had managed to utterly lay waste years of confidence. Why would he do this to her? How could he do this to her? They had grown up together, they had been the best of friends, and now they were bitterly estranged.

She stepped into the revolving door, and the flashing lights and incessant shouts were finally muffled. The apartment complex where she resided was lavish enough to satiate her extravagant taste. Everything was ornately designed with gold tinges, and warm themes. It was perfect for unwinding after a long depressing day.

"You okay, Ino?"

She turned a falsely cheery smile to one of her remaining, genuine, friends. Akimichi Chouji had taken a job as her body guard so that they could spend more time together. He was good to her; he thought the best of her which was more than she could say for her ex-friend.

"I'm fine Chouji."

He looked away from her uncomfortably. Chouji always had trouble wording things. Most of the time Ino was impatient, but lately she had been finding herself cherishing those few that she still had. She pushed her sunglasses to the top of her head, and peered up at him. She was beautiful, no one could deny that. Her big, baby blue eyes made her looks so sweet and innocent. Her hair lay freely against her shoulder, and her clothes were always sublime.

"Ino," he was obviously distressed, "Shikamaru was just angry, he didn't mean any of those things he said."

If anything, Chouji was suffering just as much as she was. He had always been soft-hearted, a gentle giant, and he had always treasured his friends above anything else. It killed him, this rift between his two oldest and dearest comrades.

Ino, however, was too busy coping with her own grief to try and understand Chouji's. Her glossed lips pursed, "I think he meant everything he said Chouji."

He sighed. It would take time. He knew it would take time before both his friends healed from the wounds they had inflicted upon each other. He just hoped that it would be before his death day. He had been against their dating from the very beginning. It could only end in disaster and he knew that very well. It would take a miracle for their friendship to survive something as cataclysmic as this.

"Know that I'm here for you, Ino," he put a large, pudgy hand atop her head.

Ino knew the waterworks would start soon if she didn't escape to her room, "Know that I love you Chouji."

Chouji smiled, but restrained himself from giving her a hug. Paparazzi were everywhere all the time, and Ino didn't need another scandal on her hands. The media had made the situation with Shikamaru so much worse than it was, and only served to ignite the hostilities.

She yawned, and gave a half-hearted wave, "I'm going to bed, night Chouji."

"Night Ino,"

Once in the elevator, she leaned against the mirrored walls and closed her eyes. She hoped no one would interrupt her. In any case, she could always bribe them to take the next elevator up.

She needed a break, desperately. All her life she had thought she was doing the right thing. When she was a little girl, as soon as she was old enough, she had wanted to be a star. Her father and mother had supported her and she had worked hard. Her natural beauty had been enough to wow talent agents, and her fiery personality sealed all her deals. Being a child star had been fabulous. Being an adult star had been even better. And then Shikamaru had to go and ruin it all. She had never questioned herself. She had never thought she was missing out on anything, but apparently she was. All these doubts threatened to choke her. For the first time in her life, Yamanaka Ino was hesitant.

It was a relief when the elevator finally arrived at the top floor. She fumbled with her large purse. Rummaging through mountains of make-up, credit cards, and electronic gadgets she triumphantly pulled out her keys. Upon entrance to her not so humble abode she was greeted with her childhood nickname.

"How's it going Ino-pig?"

Ino felt the reluctant grin coming on, "Same as always Forehead."

Haruno Sakura, her roommate and childhood friend smiled from her position in front of the television set. A giant tub of ice cream was set in between her legs, and during occasional intervals she'd shovel spoonfuls into her mouth.

Ino felt the load on her back lighten up slightly. It was a wonderful de stressifyer, watching Sakura engorge herself on ice cream. She collapsed onto the couch next to Sakura. She was watching another one of her cheesy drama. Ino hated to break up this perfect scene, but she was restless.

"Sakura, did you get me the tickets?"

Her friend peered at her from the corner of her green eyes. Straightening up on the purple couch, she turned off the program and gave her full attention to Ino.

"Yeah, are you sure you want to do this?" Sakura's eyes were filled with nothing but concern.

Ino was tired, more tired than she had ever been in her entire life. She had always been a bundle of energy, constantly in motion, but now she was listless, unhappy. She wasn't herself.

"I'm sure," Ino kept her eyes on the tub of ice cream, refusing to meet Sakura's eyes, "I can't handle this anymore, everything is just so screwed up and I'm so depressed, I need this more than anything Sakura."

Sakura sighed sadly, "I know Ino, I know."

They were silent for a minute, until Sakura shoved the carton of ice cream at Ino, "Here, you need this more than me."

Ino blinked back tears as she took a bit of ice cream.

"When are you leaving?"

Ino closed her eyes, and fell back against the couch.

"Tomorrow."

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A/N: Hello and welcome to Searching for More the second most popular story in the upcoming stories poll. I hope you enjoyed the prologue and would love to hear any comments you may have.

In other words reviews would be lovely :)


	2. Chapter 1: Nowheresville

Searching For More

By TheCrackShipper

I'd like to thank PretendingxPepper, kiwi4me, Aikori Shukrai, mi5tan, shelvesinthecloset, shyguy1818, Celtic Reaper, and yansuke for the wonderful reviews! They made me so happy and this chapter is dedicated to all of you guys. A big thanks to those who put this on their favorites and their alerts as well! Thank you!

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Chapter 1: Nowheresville

Ino had always known her shopaholic tendencies would be the death of her. If she ever needed a hip transplant when she was 90 (she prayed she'd never live _that_ long) she wouldn't be able to because she'd have spent all her money on cool shoes. She was weak when it came to the perfect pair of shoes, but now she was mentally cursing out her expansive closet.

Sakura had looked up the most culturally unaware little town in the middle of nowhere-Konoha- for Ino to take her mini "break". It was perfect, no one had ever heard of Ino there. She'd be free of the paparazzi and heartless ex boyfriends and their vindictive, new girlfriends. She was carrying around a fake I.D that said her name was Sakura Li (Sakura had a twisted sense of humor) but she was a crafty one. Everyone and their mom were named Sakura and it would let Ino blend into the crowd with such a common name. The plane ride had gone smoothly, she had landed at the nearest airport, and she had hailed a taxi. Damn, that was difficult, she'd never hailed a taxi in her life, she'd had a chauffeur since she was seven. The taxi driver had dropped her off at the gates of Konoha, leaving her to deal with her very large suitcase.

Sakura had insisted Ino pack one suitcase. She'd never manage to be inconspicuous if she dragged around her entire wardrobe, and Ino had agreed, albeit very reluctantly. But now she wished she had packed lighter. Even though she was very well built on account of her excessive training regimen the suitcase might as well have been made out of lead. Dragging it all the way to the hotel she reserved was not appealing at the moment, especially since she was so jetlagged. Usually if she needed something done for her she'd turn on the charm or she'd flash her wallet but ever since the he-who-must-not-be-named incident she'd temporarily sworn of guys. She couldn't pull out her wallet because from what Sakura had told her, civilians didn't bribe people. It was quite the conundrum she was in, but she didn't have a choice. Firmly, she planted both hands on the handle, took a deep breath and heaved. She managed to lift the ready to burst suitcase a few inches from the ground, and slowly, cautiously made her way down the sidewalk.

It was a quaint, little town, Konoha, charming in its complete normalcy. Ino would have to go sightseeing later because right now, she was fairly sure she was going to pull a muscle, and words like 'quaint' and 'charming' weren't exactly running through her head.

Open markets and side street performers abounded, and it was all so very unprofessional. It would seem that every single business in the area was family owned. How self sufficient.

Suddenly a 6 foot something hulk of person hurtled into Ino. She fell over onto the suitcase, the suitcase, exploded releasing makeup bags, certain toiletries, her shoe collection, and, embarrassingly enough, her underwear landed on the street surrounding them. Ino was enraged, she was boiling mad. Back home she was famous for her temper. One time the paparazzi had a field day when she had gone kung fu at a high society party when some creeper had tried to grab her ass. She turned to her assailant, her blue eyes blazing.

"Watch where you're going d-bag!"

"Oh man, I'm sorry miss!"

They spoke simultaneously and Ino flushed in embarrassment. She hadn't expected him to be nice about it. She lived in the city. But he smiled good-naturedly.

"Well, let this d-bag help you with your stuff," he offered, and began to collect Ino's things from the streets. Ino was left nearly speechless, but she began to collect her things off the sidewalk. Surprisingly enough, people didn't grumble about having their route blocked, some people even stopped to help! Ino would have found it nice if she hadn't caught a few guys staring at her bras, and she could have sworn she had seen one guy off with a pair of underwear. Pervs.

But a lot of people had stopped the help, and even more surprising no one had tried to shove them aside! That was more than she expected out of anyone. She certainly wasn't that benevolent. Once they had managed to shove all her possessions back into the suitcase, she profusely thanked everyone who had helped. They were all extremely gracious, waving it off as though it had been nothing. The last one in line was the sheepish blonde man who had barreled into her.

"Let me carry your bag to wherever it is your going," he insisted, taking a hold of her bag, not giving her a chance to protest. She crossed her arms against her chest, he lifted the suitcase as though it was nothing. She had chipped a well manicured nail dragging that thing through the streets, and she certainly prided herself on her athletic ability. He shifted the purple suitcase to the other hand.

"Where is it you're staying?"

Ino rummaged in the tight pockets of her designer jeans and fished out a small slip of paper where Sakura had written down the address. She squinted to try and make out the illegible scrawl.

"Hokage Resorts?"

The man's eyebrows shot up, and he nearly dropped the suitcase. Ino felt her stomach dropping, she was beginning to panic.

"What, what is it?"

He shook his head and continued down the sidewalk. Ino had to jog to keep up with his long strides. How could he walk that fast with the freaking demon suitcase?

"Nothing, it's just," he hesitated slightly, as though embarrassed, "It's just a little pricy, that's all, most people from around here can't afford it."

Ino cursed under her breath, she wanted to blend in and stay away from the luxurious and extravagant. When she had seen the price it was certainly nothing compared to the rent on her apartment and it was the only hotel in the damn place. She was going to have to think fast.

"Well how pricy?" she asked, turning on the actress inside of her, "I'm kind of on a budget and I'm going to be her a while, but the guidebooks said it was the only hotel in the area."

She widened her eyes a bit, and made her chin tremble a bit. It was the perfect damsel in distress look that she'd used in her first movie.

The man frowned, obviously angry, "Those thieves pay for the guidebooks to print them, they're really big on paying millions for advertisement instead of working to improve the village."

He turned to her, a hard steely glint to his own blue eyes, "I know a place where you can rent an apartment for a month for a day at that scam convention."

Perfect, absolutely perfect, she was saving money and she would be merging into the background without a problem.

"Thank you," Ino smiled winningly, she knew how to gain someone's trust. It was easy when you were as innocent looking as she was. He didn't seem to buy it though, because his facial expression didn't take on that 'I'm a sap for pretty blonde girls'. He abruptly spun around and headed in the other direction.

"So what are you here for?" he asked conversationally, waving at the occasional market seller.

"Just to take a break," Ino decided the truth wouldn't do any harm, "Things were really going bad back home, and I went through a nasty break up, and I thought this place seemed so quiet."

He chuckled, and peered at her out of the corner of his eye, "You'll find it phenomenal here miss, Konoha's just got that special something that everyone falls in love with, you'll end up staying here, mark my words."

Ino mentally rolled her eyes. As if. There was no way she was that depressed. If she knew herself like she thought she did, she would be up and running after a month, and even another week in this dull place would drive her insane. She was made for the fun and the exciting. This was nice, but the city and he job were what captivated her attention.

"Your ex has got be insane," he commented goodnaturedly.

Ino felt herself puff up a bit, "Well, I certainly think so."

The man threw back his head and laughed, a deep throated, genuine laugh, "It's nice to see a girl so confident in herself; most girls I've seen are devastated after break ups."

Ino had to stop herself from saying that she was devastated, that she was so heartbroken she had to run away from her problem instead of facing him.

"I'm Naruto," he stopped to shake her hand.

Ino held out her own hand, her mind was still on Shikamaru, "Ino,"

Oh crap. Now would be a great time for her resourceful side to kick in, "Is my nickname, Li Sakura is my real name, but it's so plain don't ya think?" she tilted her head, and prayed that he'd buy it.

He smiled a wide smile that reached his eyes, "I agree, Can I call you Ino?"

Ino doubted she'd see this guy enough to give him a chance, but she nodded encouragingly, "Of course, you've been so kind to me."

Naruto scratched his forehead, "It's not a problem, after I ran into you like that, anyone else around here would have done it."

Ino continued walking, Naruto followed, "In the city, no one would even think of doing what you did."

"I'm sure if it was a guy they would have," Naruto pointed out, "Some guys would kill for the chance to talk to a girl like you."

It seemed as though he was flirting with her, hoping to catch some action on the rebound. He obviously didn't get the sworn off guys memo. But she supposed a little, harmless flirting wouldn't necessarily mean they were dating. It was just a bit of verbal fun. And he was just so nice looking, and his build wasnt bad either. As long as it stayed just fun, she didn't have anything to worry about.

"Yeah well, most of those guys aren't really worth my time," she feigned disinterest, and threw him her best seductive glance, her eyes not fully open, but not exactly closed. She stepped a little closer to him, and he flushed. Ino had forgotten how nice it was to flirt. She had been with Shikamaru for two years.

"We're here," Naruto pointed out an ancient, wooden building on the outskirts of the town. It was on a very nice lake, but other than that Ino was horrified. It was practically falling apart and it certainly didn't seem as though it could accommodate life, especially not her life.

"You like it?" he grinned, oblivious to her flirting, and her dismay. Maybe he hadn't been flirting with her, and maybe he was more clueless than she thought.

"Uh-huh," she choked out an answer, hoping he didn't hear any underlying tones. He didn't because he lugged her suitcase up the wooden steps and through the door. She was shocked that they didn't collapse under the combined weight of Naruto and her demon suitcase.

"Hey Old Lady Tsunade," he yelled from inside, "We've got a new tenant."

Ino expected to see a sweet, old granny figure sitting behind the reception desk. Instead she saw a, dare she say it, hot blonde woman, with a sake bottle in one hand, and an ancient key in the other.

"You can have room 5 if you want," the woman grunted, drinking the last bits of her sake, "Do you want to check it out before you pay?"

Ino forced a smile. Anything this woman showed her would not be pretty. She would pay now.

"No thank you," Ino reached inside her shirt, where she kept her wallet, and pulled out a crumpled wad of money. Tsunade nodded approvingly. They were two of a kind.

"Thank you." Tsunade tucked the amount of money into her shirt, "Pleasure doing business with you."

"Here I'll take you up to room 5, it's one of our nicer rooms, probably because you're not from around here." Naruto explained.

Ino couldn't believe that this place had 'nicer' rooms. They reached a whitewashed door, and Ino stuck the key into the rusty lock. The door flew open at the lightest touch. Ino made the slightest meep noise at the back of her throat, but Naruto didn't seem to notice. It was furnished and it was clean, but that was as far as it went. The couch was of a dark green cloth, not dark purple leather. The walls were a pale blue that totally clashed with the green furniture. There was a wooden coffee table, and a rickety white table in the kitchenette with two chairs that didn't look too stable. There were no pictures on the walls, and there were no electronics. Not a t.v or a radio or anything! No wonder this was the most culturally unaware town in the country. With a grunt Naruto dropped the suitcase next to the couch.

"Let me show you around," he smiled.

"There's more," Ino murmured under her breath.

"This is the bathroom," he opened a door off to the side of the kitchenette, "And here's a closet," he opened a door in the living room, stacked with a few fade pink, threadbare blankets.

"Down this hallway," he pointed down a mini hallway next to the bathroom, "Is the bedroom."

Ino couldn't even a force a smile, her eyes were so wide, and he mouth was slightly open.

Naruto stepped over the suitcase and leaned against the frame of the door, "Tomorrow, I can introduce you to some of my friends."

Ino shook herself out of her reverie. Well, she obviously wasn't going to be doing anything in her super awesome room. "I'd love to," she flashed him one of her famous smiles

Naruto grinned back, and shut the door behind him.

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A/N: Chapter 1 of Searching for More is done! I hope you enjoyed it and reviews would be lovely :)


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